I spent two weeks backpacking around Tibet at the end of 2001. I stayed in low-cost hostels, camped out in a tent on a glacier river for three days, and even laid my head to rest in a number of Buddhist monasteries. While in Tibet, I went to over 20 monasteries (the major ones and the small ones) and hiked to the base camp of Mt. Everest. Through my travels, I got an intimate glimpse of the people, culture, and the history of Tibet.
I’ve never seen a more beautiful place in all of my travels. Hands down. But it was not aesthetically beautiful in a sense that everything was pristine and perfect….it was breathtaking because the people courageously wore pain and triumph as a minority group in China on their shoulders and were surviving despite all the persecution of the Chinese government.
The controversy over the past few weeks about the Olympic torch has brought to the world’s attention the tense situation in Tibet. While I have tried to push away the troubling aspects about Tibet since I have returned from my visit (watchful police, scared Tibetans, hidden pictures of Dali Lama, amount of fear that pervades Tibetan’s daily lives, destroyed Tibetan monasteries by the Chinese government)—the past few weeks have highlighted important humanitarian issues in world politics that cannot be ignored any longer.
I still remember waking up over the past few weeks and seeing the violence escalate in Tibet (which, by the way, is the most peaceful and non-violent country I have ever visited) on the cover of the New York Times and on CNN.com.
My heart sank.
Most do not understand why people are so enraged about the Chinese governments handling of Tibet. It goes back many years to the persecution that occurred during the Cultural Revolution in China and continues to have an impact today. I’ll provide a brief history (meant to be supplanted by further inquiry). The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), was a political campaign in China, launched in 1966 by Chinese Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong to eliminate his political rivals and revolutionize Chinese society. In the social chaos and political persecution that followed, thousands died and millions were imprisoned or exiled. Based on something Mao called the ‘four olds’: old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits, Mao sought to eliminate anything and everything that existed before his reign and shed the old chains of imperial rule. As a result, a lot of architecture, artwork, books, and anything associated with traditional or foreign cultures was destroyed. In Tibet, monasteries were burned to the ground, ransacked, and the Dali Lami was deemed the number one enemy of the Chinese Socialist Party.
In this context, a state of fear paralyzed Tibet. In 1980 monasteries were again reopened. It must be said that Tibetans have now been granted back many of their religious freedoms. There are now 200 functioning monasteries in Tibet. However, monks and nuns are still treated with great suspicion, and are regularly beaten or detained. And many Tibetans continue to live in fear from the Chinese government.
Today, the situation is of one where the Chinese government is trying to assert control over Tibet. Monks and nuns are constantly under suspicion and frequently brought in to be questioned or beaten. As the Tibetan political and spiritual leader, of course the Dalai Lama campaigned for Tibet’s freedom, despite himself being Chinese born. Currently, the Dalai Lama continues to campaign, but now campaigns for increased human rights, religious and democratic freedom for Tibetans, along with protection of Tibetan national heritage, natural environment (especially pointing out that China are dumping hazardous nuclear and toxic waste in his country). However, in 1988, the Dalai Lama admitted defeat to an extent, and dropped his calls for an independent Tibet, instead asking for the aforementioned rights.
Over the past few weeks, the Olympic torch has been in movement across the world but the protests against China’s human rights violations of Tibet have not ceased.
I think this is a good thing.
On a larger level, the contemporary situation makes me wonder about government over-reaching and when we as citizens push back and demand our rights to humanity. Not only in the United States but across the world. When do we see the struggles of someone outside of our racial, ethnic, and socio-economic class as our own? When does the plight of those in Darfur, Haiti, Tibet, Panama, and Rwanda become our own? What struggles do we take up? And ultimately, how do we promote a world in which ALL people are able to live healthy, productive, and free lives?
I really don’t know the answers to any of these…but I thought I would use Tibet as window to talk about questions that are important to my soul.
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watching this makes my heart hurt… i can only imagine what it was like being there…
Thank you for this article… this situation is such a double-edged sword. I thought about protesting the Chinese treatment of Tibet by not purchasing goods made in China but in stopping the purchasing goods made in China, unless it’s a mass movement, the workers in the sweatshops will be unable to feed their families… The challenge is… what do we do…?